Addiction is a dependence on a behavior or substance that a person is powerless to stop. The term has been partially replaced by the word “dependence” for substance abuse. Addiction has been extended, however, to include mood-altering behaviors or activities. Some researchers speak of two types of addictions: substance addictions (for example, alcoholism, drug abuse, and smoking); and process addictions (for example, gambling, spending, shopping, eating, and sexual activity). There is a growing recognition that many addicts, such as polydrug abusers, are addicted to more than one sub-stance or process.
Addiction is one of the most costly public health problems in the United States. It is a progressive syndrome, which means that it increases in severity over time unless it is treated. Substance abuse is characterized by frequent relapse, or return to the abused substance. Substance abusers often make repeated attempts to quit before they are successful.
In 1995 the economic cost of substance abuse in the United States exceeded $414 billion, with health care costs attributed to substance abuse estimated at more than $114 billion.
By eighth grade, 52% of adolescents have consumed alcohol, 41% have smoked tobacco, and 20% have smoked marijuana. Compared to females, males are almost four times as likely to be heavy drinkers, nearly one and a half more likely to smoke a pack or more of cigarettes daily, and twice as likely to smoke marijuana weekly. However, among adolescents these gender differences are decreasing. Although frequent use of tobacco, cocaine and heavy drinking appears to have remained stable in the 1990s, marijuana use increased.
In 1999, an estimated four million Americans over the age of 12 used prescription pain relievers, sedatives, and stimulants for “nonmedical” reasons during one month.
In the United States, 25% of the population regularly uses tobacco. Tobacco use reportedly kills 2.5 times as many people each year as alcohol and drug abuse combined. According to 1998 data from the World Health Organization, there were 1.1 billion smokers worldwide and 10,000 tobacco-related deaths per day. Furthermore, in the United States, 43% of children aged 2 to 11 years are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke, which has been implicated in sudden infant death syndrome, low birth weight, asthma, middle ear disease, pneumonia, cough, and upper respiratory infection.
Individuals going through alcohol rehabilitation or breaking drug addiction know the pain that chemicals can cause. All recovering alcoholics and drug users understand the toll that drug abuses take on the body, mind and emotions. Alcohol and drugs cause tremendous nutrient deficiencies as well as a need for very specific nutrients that are only found within nature's foods. These nutrients:
Support the liver
Help the body detoxify
Produce energy
Rebuild vitamin and mineral levels
Feed the brain and emotions
Support the blood vessels
Feed the nervous system
Balance blood sugar
One of the most obvious signs of drug and alcohol abuse is the depletion of the vitamin B complex. The challenge of addiction recovery can be made more difficult when coupled with nutritional deficiencies. The chronic depletion of vitamin B complex, for example, can lead to adrenal depletion as well. Since vitamin B complex provides cellular energy, nervous transmission, muscle health (contraction and relaxation), heart health, blood sugar metabolism, normal weight control, cellular regrowth and many functions related to emotional stability and thinking processes, this vitamin complex is absolutely necessary for replenishment. But vitamin B complex should only come from food, not from isolated or groups of vitamin pills. Similarly, the depletion of minerals such as calcium is very serious. Other important minerals include selenium, phosphorus, sulfur, zinc, potassium, and magnesium, which are all found in nature's raw vegetables.
Of course, the liver is one of the most injured organs in cases of alcoholism and drug abuse. The reason is because the liver is part of the digestive system and is used by the body to filter out and store toxins. When it is overtaxed, the liver can become fatty or damaged or both. It is critical that those going through drug or alcohol rehabilitation emphasize liver healing.
Alcohol blocks the absorption and breakdown of nutrients by damaging the cells lining the stomach and intestines, and by decreasing the amount of digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas. For reasons that aren't yet known, the pancreas can become inflamed and leak digestive enzymes, which then attack the pancreas itself. Pancreatitis is extremely painful and can be fatal.
In view of such findings, there is need for a method of treating those exhibiting symptoms of drug and alcohol addiction.
No description in the Background section should be taken as an admission that such disclosure constitutes prior art to the instant invention.